


Flying Cars

by realchemistry



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, POV Steve Rogers, Pining Idiots, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Stark Expo, That should be a tag already
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 12:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7050526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/realchemistry/pseuds/realchemistry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As soon as Steve realized what was about happen, he made a deal with himself. The thing about making deals with yourself, though, is that they’re far too easy to break.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flying Cars

As soon as Steve realized what was about happen, he made a deal with himself. The thing about making deals with yourself, though, is that they’re far too easy to break.

And the car didn’t _really_ fly. It barely hovered for a second before it fell down like a brick. And, along with it, Steve’s determination. So he turned around, and got himself recruited for an experiment instead.

As if a failed flying car wasn’t memorable enough, it’s just his luck that said experiment not only worked but gave him, among other things, perfect memory. No matter where or when he was, he could remember that broken deal as if it had happened yesterday. 

(It wasn’t the only thing he couldn’t forget, it wasn’t even the worst of it, but it could have made all the difference. He’d never know now.)

When Coulson introduced him to Lola, Steve wasn’t sure if he should cry or laugh. Coulson probably thought Steve was making fun of him for treating a car the way he did, but it wasn’t that. Of course that technology had evolved, and fully functioning flying cars were a thing. But him being around to see it? That’s not something he’d have considered plausible way back. Yet, that’s how the story went: Steve was alive, cars were flying, but Bucky was long gone.

A couple of years went by and that last part wasn’t true anymore. Well, it wasn’t true _ever_ , but Steve didn’t know. _Steve didn’t know_.

So as soon as he had a moment, as soon as they weren’t hiding or running or fighting, as soon as he estimated that mentioning something to do with Howard wouldn’t make Bucky’s eyes fill with pain (not as much, at least), Steve decided to go for it. 

Breakfast, it was; with Bucky sitting opposite him, buttering bread while sipping orange juice. Looking fluffy and soft with sleep.

“Hey, you remember the Stark Expo we went to?” 

The-night-before-our-lives-changed-forever was implied. Steve was off to a great start.

“I remember telling you _not_ to do anything stupid,” and Bucky added a hint of a lifted eyebrow for good measure.

“I’d say sorry but— “

“You wouldn’t mean it, I know.”

“No, I would not. Not when you wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t.” 

Steve cleared his throat, like an absolute obvious idiot, and went on, “So, remember the car?” 

“The flying one?” Bucky was still mulling over the whole “being here” part, Steve could tell, and was only letting Steve get away with derailing the conversation for now.

Breakfast time had been a good idea for this very reason: serious matters were dealt with _after_ noon. But, then again, wasn’t what Steve was trying to say serious?

The impulse to facepalm himself, as Sam put it, brought Steve back to the present, and he finally said, “That’s the one. Though that one didn’t fly, but they do now? Fly. Cars fly, I mean.”

“I guess...”

“I saw one, once, a few years back, it was red, and—“ 

And time stopped.

Steve knew what he was doing: he was trying to find an out, but he wasn’t going to let that happen. Not again.

“I love you, Buck.” There. Done.

“I love you too, pal,” Bucky replied, none the wiser.

 _Not_ done. 

Steve tried again, “No, I don’t—I mean, of course, yeah, I love you, but I also _love_ you.”

“Oh.” And Bucky dropped his bread, and that was not something that happened. Ever.

Steve had a PhD when it came to reading Bucky’s face, but Bucky was not reacting in any visible way, and Steve couldn’t control the ridiculous impulse to fill in the silence. 

“I promised I’d tell you that when cars flew, and cars fly now. Maybe not all of them, but I guess one is all it takes, right?”

What accompanied Steve’s babbling was Bucky’s eyebrows frowning and unfrowning for a second, and Steve knew that the latter meant that Bucky had come to a decision. Steve’s heart was beating out of his body.

“I love _you_.” 

“Really?”

Because it couldn’t be, but Bucky _was_ doing that thing where his mouth quirked up, a smile threatening to take over his whole face.

“Yeah, punk, _really_. So what now?”

Steve figured they'd done enough talking, so instead of telling him, he decided to show him.

**Author's Note:**

> This idea struck me a few months back, and I couldn't not. Even if I only like about 2/3s of the final product, I had to.
> 
> ~~There's a "repeatedly" implied there at the end, if you know what I mean.~~
> 
> [Read it at Tumblr here](http://stuckyfiction.tumblr.com/post/145234428052/flying-cars).

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Flying Cars](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7096681) by [lyrithim](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyrithim/pseuds/lyrithim), [realchemistry](https://archiveofourown.org/users/realchemistry/pseuds/realchemistry)




End file.
